Harry closed his eyes and relaxed. While he was the first one to criticize the Hogwarts train, he admitted it was the perfect way of relaxing with his friends for a couple of hours.

The last training session of the Holidays was brutal. This time, however, Elizabeth suffered with him. As petty as it was, it made him feel better. Today, Harry could feel every muscle in his body complaining at the slightest movement.

He swallowed the grunt that was about to leave his lips when Luna changed positions and cuddled to his side. For some reason, little Luna was being more affectionate than usual. While Harry didn’t really mind, he wouldn't complain if she chose another victim instead of his sore self.

“...I’m really glad I decided to go with daddy,” Luna said, telling everyone about her holidays. “I think these memories will make him happy when we can’t meet again.”

“The summer break will arrive sooner than expected,” a beaming Fleur told Luna.

Instead of answering, Luna simply hugged him tighter and closed her eyes. The little sleepyhead was preparing to take her evening nap.

“This is fascinating,” Fred hissed, looking at the notebook on the table.

“I know right? I love chemistry even when it hurts sometimes,” Justin agreed, emulating the redhead’s excitement.

“Mental, both of you,” Flora sighed, though she dutifully kept trying to solve whatever exercise was making her frown.

“Harry, you have to help me with the hydrocarbons theory because I’m lost,” Justin told him.

“Your mum also asked me to begin helping you with organic chemistry.”

“Gah, but it's evil!” Justin whined. Neville and Cedric exchanged confused glances.

“Whatever, your muggle potions thingy is boring,” Draco declared, holding the book he was reading a moment ago above his head. “This is real magic!”

Harry could only sigh. Ever since Lizzy forced his friends to visit the muggle world for some quality entertainment, Draco was obsessed with Star Trek and any other kind of fiction he could get his hands on. George was fascinated with muggle technology, just like his father, though he at least had an idea of how the basics worked – thanks to Elizabeth’s exasperated lessons, if he may add.

Admittedly, it was a good experience for his friends to see how much muggles advanced. At least that is what he told himself when he heard Daphne have heated conversations with Blaise about car models. At least Louie seemed to share his exasperation. For lacking human features, the cat was able to make a variety of expressions.

The only thing that made the walk from the train to the carriages interesting was his vain efforts to ignore his sore muscles. At least the thestrals seemed to understand his pain and were gentle when moving. Harry knew he would need a few bags of dried meat and maybe some apples to feed them. Considering Luna spent most of her free time with the thestrals, he guessed he would join her on her next visit.

The feast was as boring as ever. The only highlight of McGonagall’s speech was the introduction of the counsellors, two per house and two additional ones for the whole school. It was not much, but Harry hoped it was enough to help the students that were going through separation anxiety and homesickness. The castle barely allowed him to read in peace when the kids were distressed so he was forced to send elves with baked goods and sometimes even talk with the kids in person. It was tiresome and he needed a break.

“Tomorrow we will be having the preparation courses,” Daphne sighed, burying her face on the low table of their headquarters.

“Did you have to remind us, woman?” George hissed, throwing himself quite dramatically on the couch.

“We have to deal with the Head Boy thingy,” Fred groaned, looking strangely pained.

“Dear bother, one of us will take the position,” George said, banging his head against the couch.

“Yeah, at least mum won’t nag us that way.”

“What did I miss?” Harry asked, feeling quite confused. What courses? Why Fred and George didn’t tell him about the Head Boy position? What happened?

“Didn’t you receive the letter?” Neville asked, also looking confused.

“I’m lost, someone explain,” Harry said, not knowing to what letter was Neville referring to.

“That’s what you get for ignoring us,” Blaise said in a singsong voice Harry ignored.

“The school decided to choose the prefects in advance so we can take courses to prepare us before taking the position,” Justin explained, “Most of us received a letter. I don’t understand why you didn’t.”

“Now that you mention it, I had a few letters to read but with everything that happened I only opened the important ones.”

“I guess that you ignored it,” Theo began, “because mine said I was the secondary candidate and no one else received one.”

“Unless Crabbe and Goyle got miraculously nominated,” Draco added.

“What about you?” Harry asked the older twins, who looked at each other and groaned in unison.

George was mumbling something, but the sound was lost with his face buried in a pillow.

“What my brother is trying to say-” Fred began, sitting on his brother. Strangely, George didn’t complain, “-is that we don’t know how it happened. We received the letter when mum was out. We were making breakfast,” George said something and Fred nodded, “that’s right, brother of mine. When mum’s out we are in charge of the kitchen because Ginny is an arsonist and Ronnikins is a menace.”

“Percy is above cooking and dad works all day, so it’s the least we could do,” George said, finally ending his efforts of auto-suffocation. No, Harry was wrong. George buried his face on the pillow once again.

“Yeah, the thing is that we received the letter. It said that we were both candidates for the position. We played stone cloak wand and the loser became head boy, but,” Fred said, unnecessarily stretching the word, “I received a letter from Flitwick saying how proud he was of me for coming so far and my ugly brother got a letter from professor Somerhalder. So we decided to take the courses because we were emotionally coerced. Once it’s time to chose, we play one last stone cloak wand to decide who will become Head Boy.”

“Right,” Harry said, a bit confused on how the Weasley logic worked. “We better go to bed before more of us fall asleep.”

He smiled fondly at Hestia and Flora sleeping peacefully on the couch but sighed when he noticed that Viktor and Cedric followed their example. At least he could use his soreness as an excuse so the others were responsible for taking the sleeping quartet to their beds.

“Harry,” Luna whispered to him, “it’s time to go to the fairy room.”

Harry looked at the girl and sighed in tacit approval. The others saw as Luna dragged him out of the room but didn’t comment, either because they were too tired to deal with the girl’s antics or were amused at his suffering. He walked in silence while Luna hummed to herself. The doors of the library opened and the wards around the restricted section allowed them to pass.

As subtly as possible, Harry prepared his wand in case the fairies attacked them, but when Luna pushed the door open, nothing happened. The fairies observed silently as they took a few steps in the room until one of them stopped their path.

The first thing Harry noticed was the contrast between the fairy’s white hair and coffee skin, his white robes and midnight wings.

“You have done my people a great service, daughter of the moon,” the fairy said in a surprisingly deep voice.

“It was my honour, King Oberon,” Luna said with a curtsy.

“I will repay this favour with advice, blessed one,” the fairy said, looking at Harry. He decided to remain silent. “Beware of the path you are walking, son of the stars. As the seed of a cut lily, you were forced to grow between cypress trees. Beware, because Her favourites rarely meet the bluebird. Beware and encase your heart in the eye of Horus. Beware, because the sons of the stars always lose their hearts to Azrael, who plants the Bird's-foot trefoil seed in their minds, only for their bodies to feed hyacinths.”

With those words, the fairies in the room disappeared, leaving the place silent. Harry looked at Luna, who simply sighed.

“Fairies talk in symbols and fibs, it’s hard to know what they mean.”

For some reason, Harry didn’t believe her, but let it slide, focusing on the single parchment over the old table, which, strangely, was the only furniture in the room. After a few diagnosis spells, he grabbed the yellow parchment. It contained symbols he never saw before and, considering how tattered it looked, he guessed it was a long-forgotten runic alphabet.

“Let’s rest now,” Harry told Luna, who nodded cheerfully, grabbing his offered arm.

The weight of the single parchment didn’t allow Harry to sleep that night.

Minerva McGonagall looked at the students and sighed. Today was one of those days where she felt strangely disheartened and glum. She sighed once again when she took a look at the empty chair beside her. At least today her depression had a valid reason.

Albus was not doing well.

She visited his office yesterday, only to find it empty. Not even Fawkes was in his usual perch. That was the drop that the glass spilt, she had enough of Albus’ strange behaviour so she decided to find the man. Her first stop was Aberforth’s inn. That wasn’t a good decision.

Aberforth was also worried. Aberforth! If she wasn’t worried before, that would be enough to put her on edge.

Apparently, Aberforth had been receiving multiple letters from his brother. In some, Albus apologized, in others, he promised to visit during the weekends. The problem was that Albus never visited and kept sending similar letters.

Minerva knew Albus’ handwriting better than her own, along with the peculiar parchment and colourful inks he favoured. She knew it wasn’t a prank. What was happening with Albus? She had no idea, but knew it was bad.

“Albus is in the infirmary,” Poppy whispered, Minerva’s gaze immediately focused on the woman. “He was utterly pissed.”

And that was another reason for her worries. Albus had a problem with alcohol. A severe one, if the amount of empty firewhisky bottles the elves had at their disposal was anything to go by.

“Once he is sober, I am forcing him to visit the Healers. He’ll be suspended if anyone knows about his problem.”

“I know,” Minerva whispered, her mood souring even more. “Give me a month.”

“Minerva-” Poppy began saying, her lips were pursed in obvious disapproval.

“Please, give me one month. Aberforth and I will help him, but we want to keep it quiet. I promise that if he doesn’t go back to normal, I will be the one taking him to Saint Mungo’s.”

“You have two weeks,” Poppy snapped, leaving her breakfast unfinished.

Poppy was quite scary, especially when the children’s safety was involved. It was good to be reminded of the woman’s nature.

Minerva noticed Flitwick’s concerned frown and denied with her head. She couldn’t tell him what was happening unless she wanted Albus out of the castle. Their friendship may be strained, but he was still her friend and she would do everything in her power to protect him.

“Good morning students!” she decided it was time for the announcement before her mood plummeted further and she was unable to hide it. “I have some news for you. First of all, I want to thank professor Snape for acting as Slytherin’s House Head for so long. It was decided he did more than enough and it’s time for new blood. Welcome professor Kowalski as the new Slytherin Head!”

While she was expecting some excitement, Minerva would have never anticipated this riot. Slytherins were cheering for the woman as with so much enthusiasm the other houses joined the celebration. She spared a glance to Severus and sighed, that young man was going to be a nightmare to deal with for the next days.

Isabelle clapped her hands once, amplifying the sound and the room fell silent.

“I am thankful for your warm welcoming. I promise to fulfil my duties as Head of the House. Last night was dedicated to each one of the Houses to meet their counsellors, so I decided to wait before introducing myself. Tonight we’ll have a meeting, just to know each other.”

As expected, one smile from the beautiful woman was enough to put the students at ease. Minerva had to suppress a grin, Isabelle was a Slytherin at heart, even if she wasn’t a Hogwarts alumni.

“As I said, we need new blood. That is the reason why I also decided to step down,” Minerva said, smiling fondly at her shocked lions. “It has been a pain and pleasure to serve as the Head of Gryffindor. I really enjoyed my time even though I didn’t make much for you. I am leaving you, my dear lions, under professor Munter’s care. Don’t give him too many headaches.”

Unlike the previous announcement, this one wasn’t received with euphoric celebration. Her lions clapped and the other Houses joined. It was a warm goodbye and a candid welcome.

“I’m sure many of you know me, but for those who don’t, the name’s Benedict Munter and I’m in charge of Martial Magic. We’ll also be having a meeting tonight. Don’t worry, nothing serious, just want to meet the House.”

Benedict’s casual tone and jovial attitude would easily win the House over. Minerva knew that she took the right decision when she chose him.

“One more thing, throughout the week, the counsellors will be calling each one of you to their offices. I want to remind you they are in school for you, they will never tell us or any other person what is confided to them. We are hoping that, this way, all of you get to know your counsellors and have no reservations in visiting them when you need someone to talk with. Now, finish your breakfasts before it gets cold!”

Minerva ignored her plate and nursed a cup of tea, deciding to observe the students. She hid her smile when she noticed the older students changing the colour of their uniforms to match either Gryffindor or Slytherin, while the younger ones approached the older ones to do the same. And someone had the brilliant idea to colour its hair. What a mess! Red and green dominated the great hall before the schedules were given!

She exchanged an amused smile with Flitwick, who decided to join the students and changed his white hair to green and his beard to red.

Despite everything going on, Minerva lived for moments like these. Children being children. No stupid House rivalry destroying potential friendships. No bloody wars destroying their lives.